3 Projects/ 3 Budgets/3 Makeovers

One landscape design company’s renovations of three outdoor spaces show just how much bang Austin homeowners can get for their buck

By Gene Menez | Photos courtesy of Native Edge

Published: June 8, 2016

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$35,000: Travis Heights Front Landscape

Before

When Native Edge was called upon to overhaul the front yard and other smaller sections of a landscape in Travis Heights, the team members faced a two-part challenge. First, because most of the plant material was out of scale for what the clients wanted, the dated landscape resembled an “overbearing jungle,” recalls Matt Tingley, who designed the project for Native Edge.

And second, the clients, a married couple with two young children, didn’t agree on how they wanted the renovated landscape to look.

“I remember the wife telling me that she wanted something whimsical, and the husband shaking his head, saying, ‘No, we want modern,’” Tingley recalls. “I said, ‘We can do something in between. We can do a modern-whimsical design.”

The design removed the central pathway to the front door and replaced it with a wide pathway on the side, reducing a little bit of the original clutter. Native Edge also dug up the original grass lawn and installed Texas sedge over a turf alternative. When fully grown, the Texas sedge has the look of a meadow. In addition, it’s low-maintenance and doesn’t require mowing.

The project would not have been the same without the addition of the steel planter boxes. The color of rust, the boxes provide the space with an interesting texture and color.

“With the color of the house being a grayish-blue, I thought orangey-reddish steel planters would pop really well,” Tingley says. The planters also give the space the simple, clean, modern lines, which at least the husband will enjoy.